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MDNA
MDNA is the twelfth studio album by Madonna, first released on March 23, 2012 by Interscope Records. It is also Madonna's first album not to be associated with Warner Bros. Records, the label she was signed to since 1982. She worked with a variety of producers such as Alle Benassi, Benny Benassi, Demolition Crew, Free School, Michael Malih, Indiigo, William Orbit and Martin Solveig. MDNA lyrically explores themes such as partying, the drug MDMA, love for music, infatuation, heartbreak, revenge and separation. The album received generally positive reviews from music critics. Upon its release, it debuted at number one in many countries worldwide, becoming her eight album to top the Billboard 200 chart and giving her a record for the most number-one albums by a solo artist in Australia and the United Kingdom. It became the twelfth global best-selling album of 2012 and has sold about two million copies worldwide. Madonna went on to win three trophies at the 2013 Billboard Music Awards. "Give Me All Your Luvin'" was released as the album's lead single and became her record-extending 38th top-ten hit on the Billboard Hot 100. "Girl Gone Wild" and "Turn Up the Radio" was released internationally as its follow-up singles. All three singles have peaked at number one on Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs chart. "Masterpiece" was also released in the United Kingdom, while "Superstar" became a promotional single in Brazil. Prior to the album's release, Madonna performed at the Super Bowl XLVI halftime show on February 5, 2012. The album was further promoted by The MDNA Tour, which ended as the tenth highest-grossing tour of all time. Background In December 2010, Madonna posted a message on her Facebook page exclaiming: "Its official! I need to move. I need to sweat. I need to make new music! Music I can dance to. I'm on the lookout for the maddest, sickest, most badass people to collaborate with. I'm just saying ...." She reunited with producer William Orbit over a decade after their last collaboration. Madonna said: "With William, I didn't really have a discussion. We've worked on stuff for so many years that we kind of finish each other's sentences. He knows my taste and what I like." In July 2011, Martin Solveig was invited to a writing session in London. Originally Madonna had only acquired Solveig for an idea of one song which eventually turned into three: "Give Me All Your Luvin'", "I Don't Give A" and "Turn Up the Radio". In an interview with Billboard Solveig felt the stature of Madonna's regular producers would be intimidating and so he chose to avoid "thinking about the legend, and do something that just makes sense". Madonna then enlisted several other producers for the project, including Alle Benassi, Benny Benassi, The Demolition Crew, Michael Malih and Indiigo. She also collaborated with female singer-rappers Nicki Minaj and M.I.A.. Madonna wished to collaborate with "women who ... have a strong sense of themselves", she found the pair were "fun to be around" and were both self-possessed people, referring to M.I.A. Madonna said "I don’t think she’s impressed much by stars and celebrities, so we just got down to business. I loved her." On December 15, 2011, Madonna announced that the album will be released in the spring of 2012 and it will be her debut release from her 360 deal with Live Nation Entertainment which was signed in 2007. Through this contract, Madonna and Live Nation signed a three-album deal with Interscope Records, who will market and distribute the album. In the 2011 year-end readers poll by Billboard, it was voted as the most anticipated album of 2012. "It's amazing to be back in music. I like the intimacy of a recording studio and songwriting. I'm using a different part of my brain when I work on music versus when I'm directing a film. There are a billion more people on a film and I don't have that visceral outlet of being able to sing, scream... jump around. It's very different. I love doing both but it was nice to have the simplicity of songwriting after three years of writing a script and directing and editing and talking about my film, to sit down and play my guitar and sing a song. I almost cried." - Madonna talking about her comeback in music after hiatus for directing her film'' W.E.'' Critical reception MDNA received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 64, based on 34 reviews. Andy Gill of The Independent wrote that it "represents a determined, no-nonsense restatement of the Madonna brand following the lacklustre Hard Candy". Rolling Stone writer Joe Levy called the album a "disco-fied divorce record" and wrote of its music, "there's lots of naughtiness for the DJ to bring back, and the music has depth that rewards repeated listening." Priya Elan of NME called MDNA "a ridiculously enjoyable romp", citing its "psychotic, soul-bearing stuff" as "some of the most visceral stuff she’s ever done." Slant Magazine's Sal Cinquemani found the album "surprisingly cohesive despite its seven-plus producers" and stated, "it's obvious Madge and Billy Bubbles can still create magic together." Enio Chiola of PopMatters wrote that she "deftly juggles the production variances" and called it "a welcome return to form in so many different ways." Chicago Tribune writer Greg Kot called it her best album since Ray of Light (1998) and wrote that she "excels" on the William Orbit-produced tracks. Caryn Ganz of Spin commented similarly, "if there's one producer who knows how to pluck Madonna's heartstrings, it's Ray of Light's Orbit." Jon Pareles of The New York Times viewed that Madonna's "pop instinct, the one that hones catchiness above all ... gets her through MDNA with hook after hook." However, Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine found the album "flinty" and "excessively lean" as a result of "cool calculations" aimed to reassert Madonna's preeminence in dance and pop. Helen Brown of The Daily Telegraph panned its lyrics as "horribly cliched" and criticized Madonna's direction, stating "a woman who’s putting so much visibly desperate energy into looking and sounding like a teenager is missing the point of pop, of parties … of life." Pitchfork Media's Matthew Perpetua found most of it "shockingly banal" and "particularly hollow, the dead-eyed result of obligations, deadlines, and hedged bets." Maura Johnston of The Village Voice found Madonna's "move toward EDM ... hamfisted" and found her voice to be a "nonpresence". Los Angeles Times writer Randall Roberts viewed that its music suffers from "familiarity" and that the album "offers evidence that the singer has fallen behind, that she is no longer setting the conversation" in pop music. Genevieve Koski of The A.V. Club criticized its "electronically manipulated" vocals and "big, generic Euro-dance beats", while calling MDNA "competent, but equally perfunctory." Alexis Petridis of The Guardian viewed the album as "neither triumph nor disaster", writing that it "turns out to be just another Madonna album". Singles Madonnas-Give-Me-All-Your-Luvin-Out-Feb-3rd-image-1.jpg|Give Me All Your Luvin'|link=http://mdnapedia.wikia.com/wiki/Give_Me_All_Your_Luvin%27 3758946723.jpg|Girl Gone Wild|link=http://mdnapedia.wikia.com/wiki/Girl_Gone_Wild Turn-Up-The-Radio-Madonna.jpeg|Turn Up The Radio|link=http://mdnapedia.wikia.com/wiki/Turn_Up_The_Radio Commercial performance The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with 359,000 copies sold in the United States, making it her biggest opening week sales since Music (2000). It became Madonna's eighth chart-topper and her fifth consecutive studio album to debut at number one. The album's sales were aided by Madonna's tour audience, who had an option to get the album as part of their ticket purchase. Around 185,000 copies of first week sales reportedly came from that album-ticket bundling. In its second week, the album descended to number eight with 48,000 copies or about 86.7% sales decrease, surpassing Lady Gaga's Born This Way (2011) for the biggest second-week percentage drop for a number-one debuting album in the Nielsen SoundScan era. On October 9, 2012, MDNA was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipment of 500,000 copies. As of April 2014, it has sold 536,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.89 In Canada, MDNA debuted at number one in Canadian Albums Chart, selling 32,000 copies in its first week. In Australia, the album debuted at number one and was certified gold by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) for shipments of 35,000 copies during its first week. It became Madonna's tenth chart-topping album in Australia, which made her the solo artist with the most number-one albums of all time, surpassing Jimmy Barnes, and pushed her behind only The Beatles with fourteen and U2 with eleven. In Japan, MDNA debuted at number four on the Oricon weekly albums chart with first week sales of 31,000 physical units.93 In the same week, her Warner Bros.-released box set The Complete Studio Albums (1983 – 2008) also debuted at number nine, making Madonna the first international female artist in Japanese chart history to have two albums in the top ten simultaneously and the first international artist in 20 years to achieve such feat, since Bruce Springsteen in 1992. With those two releases, Madonna has accumulated 22 top-ten albums in Japan, more than any other international artist. The album was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of Japan for shipments of 100,000 units. In India, the album shipped gold in its first week of release and became the country's fastest-selling international album of the year. Madonna also set record for a foreign album in Turkey as MDNA sold over 30,000 copies within four days, outselling all Turkish domestic albums. In the United Kingdom, the album debuted at the top of the UK Albums Chart with first week sales of 56,335 copies. It became Madonna's twelfth album to top the chart, breaking the record previously held by Elvis Presley as the solo artist with the most number-one albums. Only The Beatles have more number-one albums in British chart history with fifteen. The album slipped to number seven in its second week and number 13 in its third week, making it the first Madonna studio album not to be in the top ten on its third week on the chart since 1984. The album was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for shipment of 100,000 copies. As of June 2012, the album had sold 112,765 copies in the United Kingdom. In Germany, the album was certified gold in its first week by the Bundesverband Musikindustrie (BVMI) for shipments of 100,000 copies and debuted at number three on the Media Control albums chart. In Russia, album debuted atop the chart with 26,000 sold and was certified double platinum. It became the best-selling album of 2012 in Russia with seven times platinum certification. According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), MDNA was the twelfth global best-selling album of 2012 with sales of 1.8 million copies. To date, the album has sold about two million copies worldwide. Track Listing 1. "Girl Gone Wild" 2. "Gang Bang" 3. "I'm Addicted" 4. "Turn Up the Radio" 5. "Give Me All Your Luvin'" (featuring Nicki Minaj and M.I.A.) 6. "Some Girls" 7. "Superstar" 8. "I Don't Give A" (featuring Nicki Minaj) 9. "I'm a Sinner" 10. "Love Spent" 11. "Masterpiece" 12. "Falling Free" *Deluxe edition bonus tracks 13. "Beautiful Killer" 14. "I Fucked Up" 15. "B-Day Song" (featuring M.I.A.) 16. "Best Friend" 17. "Give Me All Your Luvin'" (Party Rock Remix) (featuring LMFAO and Nicki Minaj) *Japanese Deluxe edition bonus track 18. "Girl Gone Wild" (Justin Cognito Radio Edit) *Deluxe edition iTunes Store pre-order bonus track 19. "Love Spent" (Acoustic) Promotion *Super Bowl In December 2011, it was announced that Madonna would perform at the Super Bowl XLVI halftime show at the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana. Madonna collaborated with Cirque du Soleil in producing the show, and was chosen in lieu of American recording artist Lady Gaga. Rehearsal for the halftime performance accumulated to an estimated 320 hours. The show was visualized by Cirque Du Soleil and Jamie King. Madonna performed at the Super Bowl XLVI during the Bridgestone Halftime Show which was broadcast on NBC on February 5, 2012, from Lucas Oil Stadium. The performance included twenty dancing dolls, seventeen main dancers, a two hundred membered church choir, and a drumline consisting of a hundred percussionists. Thirty-six image projectors were utilized to create a spectacle of lights, while Madonna wore 120 individual prosthetic eyelashes. The show began with Madonna being carried into the stadium by 150 bearers, who wore pairs of black underwear designed by Calvin Klein. She arrived atop of a golden throne, which weighed over 1,200 pounds, and sported a long golden cape designed by Givenchy; completion of the cape happened over an approximate period of 750 hours. Madonna performed "Give Me All Your Luvin'" (joined by Nicki Minaj and M.I.A. dressed as cheerleaders), during a medley of her past hits "Vogue" and "Music" (performed with LMFAO along with excerpts from "Party Rock Anthem" and "Sexy and I Know It"), then an "Open Your Heart"/"Express Yourself" interlude followed by "Like a Prayer" (performed with Cee Lo Green). Once the show concluded, a group of 250 volunteers dismantled the stage in six minutes. The performance gained widespread attention from the media, after M.I.A. extended the middle finger to the camera near the end of her verse of the song instead of singing the word "shit". The incident prompted broadcaster NBC and the National Football League to issue apologies. Madonna's performance broke a record as the most-watched Super Bowl halftime show in history, garnering 114 million viewers. She also set a new record as the most tweeted about subject on the social network Twitter with 10,245 posts per second and was the most-searched term on Google during the event. Madonna was not paid for the performance, as previous performers at the event have not been paid. However, a Forbes analysis said before the event that, with 30-second commercial spots commanding over $3 million apiece, the 12 minutes of free television exposure had a considerable promotional value to Madonna's multiple enterprises coming to market at the time of the event. *Media Following her performance at the Super Bowl, the album received limited promotion and Madonna was basically off the radar. She avoided major television appearances and live performances, instead focusing on rehearsals for her world tour. On April 11, 2012, her manager Guy Oseary explained on his Twitter: "I wish we could have done TV last week but we were in rehearsals morning and night." Madonna used social media to promote the album instead. Through her official Facebook, she published minute-long snippets of several album tracks, posted behind-the-scenes pictures of tour rehearsals and polled her fans about which back-catalog songs they'd like to hear when she hits the road. On March 24, 2012, Madonna took a livestream chat on Facebook with Jimmy Fallon. She later made a brief appearance on Ultra Music Festival 14 in Miami on March 2012, where she introduced Swedish DJ Avicii and his remix of her single, "Girl Gone Wild". Upon the album's sales drop in its second week, critics and fans criticized the lack of promotion and poor singles choices for the album. Through his Facebook, producer William Orbit expressed his displeasure of the album's poor promotion, and said that they had little time to record the album because Madonna's schedule was packed full of other commitments, such as "perfume ranges and teen fashion contests." Orbit later apologized for the statement. *MDNA Tour Madonna announced her ninth concert tour on February 7, 2012.The tour was launched on May 31 in Tel Aviv, Israel and ended in South America in December 2012. It marked her biggest tour ever with 88 shows and included many markets she had never played before. This tour played 32 dates in 28 European markets, including London, Rome, Milan, Paris, Copenhagen, Barcelona, Warsaw, Istanbul, Moscow and Berlin, before hitting North America with 45 shows. The tour was promoted by Live Nation Entertainment as part of a 360 deal. On March 26, Madonna had confirmed the tour title, MDNA Tour via Twitter. It became the highest-grossing tour of 2012 and 10th highest-grossing tour of all time, grossing $305.1 million in ticket sales for 88 sold-out shows.